Tourists seen on Durban’s South Beach.
Hoberman Collection/Universal Images Group via Get
- Durban Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda says the city has earned more than 1 billion rand over the festive season.
- Despite the “challenges”, many tourists visited Durban’s beaches and other tourist spots.
- Kaunda drew much criticism over the festive season for encouraging the public to swim at Durban’s inconsistently safe beaches.
Durban Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda says the city raked in more than 1 billion rand in revenue over the festive season thanks to large numbers of visitors drawing activities such as the Durban Jazz Festival, Fact Durban Rock and Woz’eDurban. .
“All these activities attracted thousands of visitors to the city, as the accommodation occupancy rate reached 65%. This translates to 702,735 visitors with a direct spend of R1.5 billion, a contribution of more than R3,800 billion rand to GDP and 7,775 jobs,” he said. saying.
Kaunda and his officials encouraged the public to visit Durban’s sewage-plagued beaches as preparations for the festive period began in early December.
But he refused to swim at Umhlanga’s main beach during a publicity stunt aimed at proving the beaches were safe.
Instead of swimming himself in the main beach of Umhlanga, he sent the deputy city administrator, Musa Gumede, who swam in polluted waters.
Durban’s beaches were closed and then reopened for most of 2022, following heavy flooding in April that damaged already neglected and aging infrastructure.
Kaunda and his team, amid much fanfare, led a contingent of journalists to North Beach where, after a full day of braggadocio, along with influencers and the Metropolitan Police, they finally made a splash.
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Shortly after the swim, the independent company Talbot – the Art of Water, which has been producing accurate E. coli readings for some time, released shocking numbers indicating that, on the same day that Kaunda and Gumede plunged into the ocean, E The .coli levels were unacceptably and dangerously high.
At Umhlanga Beach, E. coli levels were 1,616/100 ml, well above the acceptable level of 250-500.
In North Beach, levels on the day were just above the acceptable level, at 556/100ml.
Drop in the number of criminal incidents and traffic accidents
On Thursday, Kaunda said that as a result of increased police visibility on roads and in communities, few crime incidents and traffic accidents were reported during the 2022 festive season.
“We are also pleased that due to our systematic preparation and planning, we only saw 47 separated children quickly reunited with their families within 24 hours.
“We attribute this success to the comprehensive party security plan that we put in place with the provincial government and the release of the new Metro and SAPS police officers in December.”
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Kaunda said that as a result of an integrated law enforcement approach, between December 15, 2022 and January 11, 2023, 15,617 fines were issued; 1,503 vehicles were stopped and searched; and 70 compliance inspections were carried out in companies.
“As a city, we are heartened that despite the challenges we are experiencing with some of our beaches, thousands of visitors still flock to Durban.
Mxolisi Kaunda took a dip on a Durban beach in December to prove the water was safe.
Twitter @eThekwiniM
Looking towards Easter
“This festive season provided us with an opportunity to showcase Durban’s other hidden gems. So the success we have achieved this festive season has laid a solid foundation for us to prepare for the Easter holidays.”
Kaunda said that during the festive season, only 12 beaches were open for swimming.
“As a result of the progress we have made in repairing our pump stations along the coast, we have now been able to open more beaches.”
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He said the following beaches were safe for swimming: Point, Ushaka, Addington, South Beach, Wedge, North Beach, Bay of Plenty, Toti Main, Brighton, uMdloti Main, Umgababa, Umhlanga Main, Westbrook and Battery Beach.
Beaches that are closed to swimming include Bronze, Country Club, Thekwini, Laguna, Reunion, Warner, Winkelspruit, Pipeline, Anstey’s, and Causarina.
“The City continues to update the status of our beaches and pools as it changes. When we provided an update on the holiday season in December, we noted that only 25 pools were open to the public.
“Today, due to our aggressive maintenance plan, we are pleased to report that, since last week, we have seen the number of pools that are open rise to 31.”
